Attachment for sewing machines



N. M. CONAWAY 2,064,733

ATTACHIVIENT FOR SEWING MACHINES yDec. 15, 1936.

Filed July 8, 1955 w W m Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITED STATE TENT FFIQE'7 Claims.

This invention relates to an attachment for sewing machines and moreparticularly to a guide for eliminating labor in presenting work to theneedle of a sewing machine.

Heretofore in performing sewing operations with sewing machines andparticularly the stitching of the collar of a collar-attached shirt,near but slightly spaced from the edge of the same and on the rightside, it has been customary for the operator to manipulate the fabric inan effort to produce a French seam which is smooth, of minimum bulk andin which the full extent of the fabric is obtained. Considerable skillhas been necessary in order to provide merchandise 15 of the mostdesired smoothness and appearance. It has been diificult to maintainuniformity and the process has been time consuming, expensive and oftenresulted in injury to the operator and the production of defectivearticles.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple, inexpensive andefficient attachment for sewing machines designed to reduce the amountof manual labor necessary in the production of garments of certaincharacters, as for example the collar of a shirt, and at the same timespeed up production and by the use of which a finished article ofimproved characteristics can be provided.

Referring to the accompanying drawing which is made a part hereof and onwhich similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view illustrating the application of the inventionto a sewing machine, the head of the machine being removed,

Fig. 2, a front elevation of the structure of Fig. 1 having the additionof a head and presser foot,

Fig. 3, a section through a collar with a guide in operative position tothe collar, and

Fig. 4, a view of a collar illustrating the extent of that portion ofthe collar which is stitched while the collar is in contact with theguide.

Referring to the drawing, a conventional sewing machine is illustratedto which the invention is attached. The sewing machine comprises a bedplate Ill provided with a throat or needle plate ll having an aperturei2 through which a needle l3 moves during the sewing operation. Theneedle i3 is carried by means of a set screw M in a needle bar itmounted to reciprocate in the head I6. A presser foot ll is alsoprovided through which the needle reciprocates. A feed dog [8 grips thefabric and advances it'as the needle alternately pierces the same duringits reciprocative movement.

The parts just described are well known and form no part of the presentinvention.

An adjustable edge guide i9 is mounted on the bed plate It, as forexample by means of a set screw 20 projecting through a slot in theguide. The edge guide i9 is also of conventional construction and itsfunction is well known.

The present invention provides a guide M in cooperative association withthe edge guide l9, the free or projecting edge of the guide 2i beingtapered on both flat faces to a thin curved edge in order that the samemay be inserted within the fold or seam of fabric and cause the edgefabric to travel in its fully projected position in contact with theedge guide l9 as the fabric is carried past the needle 13.

The guide 2! is pivotally mounted on the base plate 22 by means of a setscrew 23, a spring clip 24 being disposed beneath the head of the setscrew for frictionally holding the guide in a definite position whilepermitting movement of the guide against the action of the spring 24.The heel of the guide 2| has a pin or latch 25 projecting therethroughand which pin projects through the base plateZZ and is carried by meansof a leaf spring having a finger manipulating portion 26. The leafspring is secured by means of rivets or other desired fastening means211 to the underside of the base plate 22. It will be apparent that whenthe manipulating portion 26 of the leaf spring is pressed downwardly,the pin 25 carried thereby is depressed and is withdrawn from the guide2! and the guide can be turned. Rotation of the guide 2| on its pivot 23permits the guide to be swung counterclockwise out of engagement withthe work. In the position shown in Fig. 1 the guide is in its operativeposition to guide the work during stitching operation and when movedcounterclockwise to the dotted line position of this figure the work canbe passed on through the machine. After it has passed through themachine continued counterclockwise movement of the guide will bring thesame around into position between the folds of the next succeedingarticle to be operated upon.

It is necessary in. order to obtain maximum service from the guide 2ithat it be mounted so that its thin operating extremity is insufficiently close proximity to the adjustable edge guide ii! that itwill properly perform the functions for which it is intended and at thesame time swing clear of the needle. In order to accomplish this and topermit necessary adjustment, the base plate 22 is attached to the bedplate of the machine by means of a measuring and attaching flange 28,fastened in place by screws or other fastening elements 29 which areshown extending through openings in the attaching flange 28 somewhatlarger than the screws. The extremity 30' of the attaching flange 28serves as a measuring point so that when a portion of the work such asfor example, the tip of a collar reaches this position the operatorknows it is necessary to depress the manipulating portion 26 of the leafspring and move the guide 2! to the dotted line position and thus permitthe work to pass on through the machine.

As shown a shoulder or step 3i is provided between the base plate andits attaching flange by forming the flange of a thickness correspondingto only about half of the base plate. This should facilitate the guidingof the work through the machine when the work, as the collar of a shirt,is curved, and particularly when the last part of the collar passes theneedle.

As illustrated the work may be a collar 32 which consists of a pair ofouter folds 33 and an inner stiffening member 34 which is adapted to besteamed or otherwise treated to provide a stiffening effect. The collar32 is provided with corner stitching 35 which is done before the guide2! is brought into use, the collar being adapted to be sewed between thestitchings 35 which extend along the longitudinal dimension of thecollar when the guide 2! is located as shown in Fig. 3 between the foldsof the fabric along its longitudinal dimension and between thelongitudinal stitchings. 35.

In operation the collar 32 is stitched from its straight inner edgealong the end of the collar and then longitudinally parallel to theouter edge of the collar until the guide 2! is swung into the folds ofthe fabric by clockwise motion in which position it is substantially asshown in full lines in Fig. 1. Then the operator grasps the extremitiesof the collar and operates the machine to perform the stitchingoperation as the collar is moved endwise through the machine with theedge of the collar in contact with the extremity of the edge guide l9.

The collar is advanced until the longitudinal stitching is nearcompletion when the manipulating extremity 26 of the leaf spring isdepressed to withdraw the pin or latch 25 from the aperture in the heelof the guide and the guide is then swung to the dotted line position ofFig. 1. The guide 2! is swung to the dotted line position from the fullline position when the point of the collar formed by the inner edge andthe end of the collar reaches the extremity 30 of the attaching flange28. When in the dotted line position the stitching can be continuedalong the longitudinal edge of the collar and the collar turned and thestitching completed across the end of the collar whereupon anothercollar to be sewed is fed into the machine and the stitching across theend and down the longitudinal dimension is performed and the guide swunginto position to permit the stitching of the intermediate longitudinalportion of the collar.

The presser foot I! is lowered to cause the fabric to rest upon theneedle plate over the slots through which the portion of the feed dogprojects so that feed dog may press the fabric against the presser footand advance the same through the machine. It will be necessary, ofcourse before the swinging of the guide 2| from the full line to thedotted line position shown in Fig. 1 to raise the presser foot andlikewise the presser foot may or may not be raised when one collarpasses from the needle and the other passes to the needle.

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing that means is providedfor reducing the cost of manufacture of a shirt or other article andthat at the same time an increase in precision and thereby an improvedarticle obtained. In actual operation it has been found to save severalcents per dozen in the cost of manufacture of shirt collars.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in my device without departing from the spirit of the inventionand therefore I do not limit myself to what is'shown in the drawing anddescribed in the specification, but only as indicated by the appendedclaims.

I claim:-

1. An attachment for sewing machines for engaging fabric being stitchedand for guiding the same during the stitching operation, said attachmentcomprising an elongated relatively narrow guide pivoted toward the sideof the line of travel of the work adapted to be operated upon andswingable clear of the needle from an operative to an inoperativeposition and being further swingable from said last mentionedinoperative position in a continung arc back to operative position, andlatching means for fastening said guide in its operative position, saidguide having its work engaging extremity tapered to a thin curved edge,the curvature of which substantially corresponds to the arc formed bythe operative end of the guide, a base plate supporting said guide, andmeans for latching said guide in fixed relation to its support, saidbase plate having an attaching flange, said attaching flange having itsextremity constructed to provide a measuring device for determining thetime of swinging of the guide from operative to inoperative position.

2. An attachment for sewing machines for engaging fabric being stitchedand for guiding the same during the stitching operation, said attachmentcomprising an elongated relatively narrow guide pivoted toward the sideof the line of travel of the work adapted to be operated upon andswingable clear of the needle from an operative to an inoperativeposition and being further swingable from said last mentionedinoperative position in a continuing are back to operative position, andlatching means for fastening said guide in its operative position, saidguide having its work engaging extremity tapered to a thin curved edge,the curvature of which substantially corresponds to the arc formed bythe operative end of the guide, a base plate supporting said guide, andmeans for latching said guide in fixed relation to its support, saidbase plate having an attaching flange, said attaching flange having itsextremity constructed to provide a measuring device for determining thetime of swinging of the guide from operative to inoperative position,said latching means comprising a leaf spring and a pin carried by saidleaf spring and engageable with said guide.

3. In combination with a sewing machine including a bed plate, a presserfoot and a needle, a device for causing cloth to be stitched to bepresented to said needle by said presser foot in a definite manner andcomprising an attachment including a body, means for adjustablyattaching said body to said base plate, a blade pivotally mounted onsaid body and having its extremity tapered to a thin rounded edgeadapted to pass between folds of cloth to present the said folds tosaidneedle, means for locking said blade in a definite position, said meanscomprising a flexibly mounted detent for engaging the blade, said detentbeing retractable to permit counterclockwise rotation of the blade toposition the same out of the path of the movement of the the fabricbeing operated upon, and being further rotatable in the same directionto swing the blade back into operative position to present the cloth tothe needle.

4. In combination with a sewing machine having a bed plate and a needlefor performing the sewing operation, means for guiding the materialoperated upon in a definite manner to said needle, said means comprisingan adjustable guide having a portion disposed in proximity to saidneedle for causing the material sewed to pass within a definite path tothe needle for limiting the movement of the material in one direction,and having a relatively blunt curved extremity, a second means having acorrespondingly curved thin substantially knife-edged blade disposed inopposition to the blunt end of the other means, said knife edge beingadapted to pass between folds of the fabric as the fabric traverses thesame for extending said fabric and causing it to be sewn in a flatcondition, a supporting plate for said blade, means for adjustablyfastening said blade in fixed relation on said body plate on saidmachine, said blade having a curved shoulder substantially conforming tothe path of movement of the fabric being operated upon, and said bladehaving an extremity providing a gage for fabric fastened to the machine,and resilient means for lockingsaid blade in operative fabric projectingand guiding position and permitting force applied to the blade in acontraclockwise direction to swing the blade from operative position andfurther similar movement to swing theblade again into operativeposition.

5. A guide for a sewing machine comprising an elongated blade havingguiding means adjacent one end, means for pivotally supporting saidblade intermediate its ends on said machine, said blade being rotatableon its support for moving it to operative position in front of theneedle and into inoperative position behind the needle, and meansadjacent the end of said blade opposite said guiding means forreleasably latching said blade in operative position.

6. A guide for a sewing machine comprising an elongated blade havingguiding means adjacent one end, means for pivotally supporting saidblade intermediate its ends on said machine, said blade being rotatablesubstantially three hundred and sixty degrees on its support for movingit to operative and inoperative positions, and means adjacent the end ofsaid blade opposite said guiding means for releasabl latching said bladein operative position.

'7. A detachable guide for a sewing machine designed to extend the edgeof material to be sewn, said guide comprising a relatively thinelongated blade having guiding means adjacent one end for engaging and.extending fabric to be sewn, means for pivotally supporting said bladeintermediate its ends on the sewing machine, said blade being rotatableon its support for moving its guiding portion into position in front ofthe needle and into inoperative position behind the needle out ofengagement with the fabric in a manner to cause the fabric to beextended for sewing, and means adjacent the end of the blade oppositesaid guiding means for releasably,

latching said blade in a position such that its guiding portion is inposition for extending material to be sewn coming in contact therewith.

NATHANIEL MILES CONAWAY.

